The two joined cast members Guy Pearce, Carey Mulligan and Ron Perlman at the Comic-Con fan convention for a joint panel to preview footage of producer del Toro's horror remake Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark and director Winding Refn's action thriller Drive.

Comic-Con presentations usually focus on one film at a time. But del Toro and Refn said they are such mutual admirers of each other's works that they wanted to do a "mash-up" to discuss the two movies, which both are being released by FilmDistrict.

Guy stars with Katie Holmes in Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, playing a father whose young daughter is terrorised by tiny but savage creatures that emerge from the bowels of the mansion he's restoring.

Carey and Ron co-star in Drive, whose cast is led by Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a wheel-man for crooks.

The mash-up came about because del Toro had seen such Refn films as Bronson and Valhalla Rising and that he "wanted to meet this insane (expletive)" who had made them. Refn said that del Toro's films, which include Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy movies that star Ron, made him feel "like I'm looking into his brain."

The two filmmakers and their casts, along with Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark director Troy Nixey, traded praise and critiques of the two films. But comparing the two, Guy had a ready quip.